My right knee and I have had issues with each other for the last 10 years. After surgery about 5 years ago, and a big change in running form (see Pose Method), we’ve done ok. But recently, I re-injured it and then made it worse by racing Ironman Texas on it. We are now no longer on speaking terms. This is a problem.

At some point about 10 years ago I tore the meniscus (a piece of cartilage that keeps your upper and lower leg bones from smacking into each other) and during certain types of activities, like climbing stairs and running, the tear separates and allows the bones to rub.  Sometimes that creates a really sharp pain, other times it’s just a nagging dull pain that lasts for hours.  Arthroscopic surgery repaired it and it got better, but it never totally went away.  Changing my running form to the Pose Method made the most difference – so much so that I regret having had the surgery.  With the new running form, things continued on ok until the beginning of May when I was tapering down for Ironman Texas.

Around the first of May I had just completed my longest period of training hours and was tapering down to race day.  During an ordinary 2 hour run I suddenly started getting sharp pains on the outside of my knee.  I ended up walking back as the knee became crazy stiff.  During the remaining time before the race I did everything I could to rehab it, but on race day it was still injured.  During the race, my competitive nature took over and I pushed my knee way over the edge.  My race results were good, but for the next week after the race I could barely bend my knee.

After the stiffness wore off I discovered a new pain on the back, right side of my knee.  Things were getting worse.  I decided to bump up the joint supplements and get involved in yoga.  Stretching combined with functional strength training would be my injury rehab leading back into training once I was ready.  Almost 2 months later, after feeling some change from the yoga, I decided to go out for a light run to test things out.  I got my answer almost immediately – the knee was still injured just as badly as it was on race day.  Damn.

This morning, feeling completely defeated, I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor who specializes in sports medicine.  I wanted to follow my own rehab plan to heal up and then slowly get back into training.  I had a plan, some long term goals and really don’t want to go through knee surgery again – it took almost a year before my knee felt completely normal last time. Since Ironman Texas, all I’ve thought about is getting to Kona.

I’m ok with a long term plan for slow rehab and building strength.  If that’s the recommendation from the doctor, I’ll be really happy.  If things inside my knee are bad enough that surgery is a requirement, qualifying for Kona may have to be reconsidered.  And that will put me and my knee far beyond speaking terms for a long time.